I'd been to Venice October some nine years earlier and although expensive back then everything else seemed ideal...the temperature a pleasant and sunny 25 degrees, the tourists not too many, opera in a tiny theatre, stood only meters away from Heath Ledger and witnessed the filming of Casanova (for real) and finally the vaparettos (water buses) were not too crowded, making it very easy to move around Venice.
I couldn't wait to hit the footpaths again and explore this beautiful city, so we did the touristy thing and spent the day checking out major sites...San Marco Square, Rialto bridge, food market and many of the shops.
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| Rialto bridge |
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| San Marco's Piazza |
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| San Marco's Piazza |
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| Rialto bridge |
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| Grande Canal |
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| Just one of the many crowded streets |
Although Venice is still beautiful, it didn't quite have the same relaxed feel this time round. Coming to Venice in July was not such a good idea...too hot and too many tourists. Apparently it normally takes 20 minutes to walk from our apartment to the Rialto bridge and market or 30 minutes to walk to San Marco piazza, however by the time we dodged and wove our way through all the tourists, contended with the heat by searching for shady spots, ascended and descended the steps of so many bridges, we found it took much much longer. By the time we arrived at our destinations I was over it!...hot, tired, sore knees, aching back. Also notice there were no seats along the way, not even in the many little piazzas, so once you started you're journey you had no option but to keep on walking. We'd concluded this was probably intentional with the purpose of encouraging tired and weary travellers to have to sit at one of the many cafes along the way. Of course you take a seat...you buy and here in Venice wass not cheap.
We arrived back at Francesca's apartment late afternoon... ready for a nap. Too exhausted from all the walking we decided to dine at a nearby restaurant that evening and were pleasantly entertained by some buskers playing lively Italian music.
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| A starter for two |
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| 300 meters from Francesca's house |
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